M54 DME Options

[senorcarey]

Hi Guys,

Preparing my Euro E28 for a new swap and I'm trying to decide between the M60 that's sitting in my garage, M52/S5x and possible forced induction, or an M54 stock or possible forced induction. The M60 swap is the cheapest, since I have it, but I'm not convinced that's the direction I want to go.

Since my Euro is a stripper model and is very light, I'm really drawn to the M54. I've been perusing threads but it seems that with the M54 I only have a couple of options as far as the electronics are concerned. I'm trying to weigh the cost vs. performance vs. ease of installation vs. cool factor factors.

Please bear with me...

To clarify:
1. Run stock DME but have somebody turn off DBW, extra O2 sensors, EWS. Can they tune for turbo? Cost: $$$$?

2. Run MS3. Cost: $800 approx. plus tuning.

3. Run OBD1 with a 413. Cheap, but what's the point.

Thanks in advance.

[DesertBMW]

I see you are in Phoenix Az, me too.











ps: E30 realy moves fast with M54B30, its a joy to drive it

[hoveringuy]

I drive an e39 with a stock M54 and an e30 with an Megasquirted M54.

The e39 is an automatic, but somehow the same motor just feels boring in the e39, makes me wonder how much the stock ECU has to do with that.

[senorcarey]

I've actually had a few E39s, all 528s. The last two were 1999 Tourings with M52Tus powering them. My (wife's) current car has over 221K on it and I'm always surprised at how strong it pulls. I figure with 1000 lbs less weight (approx, of course), it should be even stronger.

My goal with the Euro is to continue with the theme of lightness and an AL block will do just that. I've never turboed a car before, but I think, ultimately, that it may be a better option than an M6x. Who knows, though.

[Asbradley21]

I drive an e39 with a stock M54 and an e30 with an Megasquirted M54.

The e39 is an automatic, but somehow the same motor just feels boring in the e39, makes me wonder how much the stock ECU has to do with that.

I have an e39 manual. M52b28 but not that far off from the m54. I'm actually quite pleased with it's performance. I've never driven an auto e39 but I've driven auto e46's with the same motor and they felt slow compared to my e39.

[RobertK]

Stock ECU with a quality tune > MS3.

The Siemens MS43 is a superior engine computer.

Everyone I know that uses MS3 either has constant issues they have to tweak or they give up on it completely because to really make it work you need to (1) really know what you are doing and (2) need dyno time to get it somewhat perfect.

[nando]

MS3 can work quite well - for an aftermarket DME on a DD, it's actually quite good.. I worked on some "other" aftermarket DMEs that cost just a little bit more, and they were awful. You don't get into the "really good" stuff until you start spending a lot of dough (multiple thousands - pectel, bosch motorsports, etc).

what's the most common M54 DME? MS43?

if you want a turbo though, it's going to be so customized, I'd just use MS3 - will be much simpler to tune and maintain in the long run. For N/A, the original DME (tweaked of course) would be less of a pain.

I haven't touched anything on my MS3 in 2 years, except the 15 minutes I spent adjusting my fuel after I swapped injectors. that's about 20,000 miles of DD'ing.

[RobertK]

MS3 can work quite well - for an aftermarket DME on a DD, it's actually quite good.. I worked on some "other" aftermarket DMEs that cost just a little bit more, and they were awful. You don't get into the "really good" stuff until you start spending a lot of dough (multiple thousands - pectel, bosch motorsports, etc).

what's the most common M54 DME? MS43?

if you want a turbo though, it's going to be so customized, I'd just use MS3 - will be much simpler to tune and maintain in the long run. For N/A, the original DME (tweaked of course) would be less of a pain.

I haven't touched anything on my MS3 in 2 years, except the 15 minutes I spent adjusting my fuel after I swapped injectors. that's about 20,000 miles of DD'ing.

I will have to admit, everyone I know with MS3 was using it to tune a FI car and only one person I know locally has been able to really master it but for N/A the stock ECU is more than enough.